1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to inductive devices, and in particular to a laminated multi-layered inductive device and method of making the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Early microcircuit and designers avoided inductive surface mount components such as transformers and inductors because of the relatively large physical size of such devices. Eventually, micro size inductive components were developed, however, these components exhibited extremely low values of inductance (e.g. from nano Henrys up to one micro henry). As a result, they could only be used at high frequencies, such as for microwave frequency circuits.
One conventional solution, as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,765,082 to Zytez, attempted to overcome these problems by using a monolithic inductor chip. However, the coil design in such conventional solutions is inefficient and is incapable of obtaining as high inductance levels as the present invention, because it only uses ferrite wafers to form the laminate structure. As a result, high permeable ferrite was generally not used, as it tended to short out the conducting lines (e.g. windings) of the device.